Exhibits

Bonnie and Clyde


Wellington Incident - Bonnie and Clyde

One of the projects funded by The Works Progress Administration was the construction of State Highway 4 from the south to the north through Collingsworth County. By the summer of 1933 SH4 (later designated US83) was completed from the Childress County line to the Salt Fork of Red River but diverted to the old highway to cross the river on the 1910 bridge.

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Wellington Cotton Yard


Wellington Cotton Yard - Cattle Ranching to Cotton Farming

The last Indians of the Texas Panhandle were on the reservation in Indian Territory by 1875. Very few buffalo roamed the eastern Panhandle in the late 1870s. Collingsworth County was established by the Texas Legislature in 1876 but not organized until 1890.


Rocking Chair Ranche


Rocking Chair Ranch -

John T. Lytle and A. Conkle registered the rocking chair cattle brand in Wheeler County on September 30, 1881. These two men doing business as Conkle & Lytle purchased 235 sections, 150,400 acres, of land in Collingsworth and Wheeler Counties in February 1883.


Texas Department of Transportation


Texas Department of Transportation

A unique exhibit in the Collingsworth County Museum is that of the instruments, tools, and records of the Wellington office of the Texas Department of Transportation. Most of these surveying tools and other instruments have been replaced by the electronic age.

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The Soda Fountain


The Soda Fountain

Probably, the earliest soda fountain in Wellington was in The Confectionery that billed itself as a Ladies Ice Cream Parlor. It was in a frame building on the south side of the square and owned by N. R. Cocke. The white marble soda fountain now in Collingsworth County Museum was located also on the south side of the square in the O’Neil Building

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Templeton Law Office


Templeton Law Office

Robert H. Templeton (1879-1939) received his law degree in 1904. In 1905 he was County Attorney in Collingsworth County. His brother Rufus Lee Templeton (1883-1927) joined his brother in the practice of law in 1920.

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Pioneer Park


Pioneer Park

Located at the historic river crossing on US83 six miles north of Wellington in Pioneer Park, is a Kiosk provided by the Texas Highway Department that commemorates the 1939 truss bridge.

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Music Room


Music Room

Permanent in this exhibit are the square piano manufactured by Mathushek Piano Manufacturing Company of New Haven, Connecticut, and the DaVenOla Record Player, made by the Davenport Cabinet Works, Davenport, Iowa.

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The Ellis Art Center


The Art Center

The Art Center of Collingsworth County Museum is used for receptions and meetings and houses the museum’s collection of art by local and area artists. For many years there has been an art league in Wellington and the Art Center has been supported by this group of talented artists over the years. Presently the collection contains about 200 pieces.

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The Military Collection


The Military Collection

Artifacts in Collingsworth County Museum’s military collection include a World War I uniform and uniforms and other items from World War II, Korea, Viet Nam and Iraq. A dress uniform of Col. Wood Coleman (World War II) and the camouflage of Col. Ty Bonner (Gulf War) are uniforms of the two highest ranking officers from Collingsworth County to date.

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Wellington Leader


Wellington Leader

The Wellington leader published a weekly newspaper in Wellington from July 31, 1909 through May 29, 2014, owned and published most of that time by the Wells Family.

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Native American Artifacts


Native American Artifacts

Collingsworth County Museum has a collection of Native American artifacts which include a banishing rock, moccasin mold, discoidal, metate and grinding rocks, as well as points, drills, scrapers, awls, bartering flint, etc. These items were originally found in the Texas Panhandle, some of them in Collingsworth County.

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Guns


Guns

Guns were a necessity in early Collingsworth County. A variety of wild game was plentiful and a gun was necessary to harvest the game in order to put food on the table. Deer, turkey, prairie chickens, and antelope were abundant.

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Prehistoric


Prehistoric

Pehistoric animals roamed Collingsworth County thousands of years ago. The Collingsworth County Museum has on display a mammoth tusk found on the Salt Fork of Red River and a mammoth jaw bone found in Collingsworth County in 1965.

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